1. The Social Experience of Freshmen Female Athletes Janelle Fagg

2. Research Question: How do the social experiences of female freshmen athletes affect their satisfaction with their university experience?

3. Female freshmen athletes at a mid- sized western religiously affiliated university –1 individual interview –1 interview of 2 students –1 focus group of 5 –1 focus group of 6 Participants:

4. Literature: Student-athletes often deal with balancing academics, social involvement, and their athletic commitment by separating their lives into three spheres (Miller & Kerr, 2002) When students experience some kind of social interaction within the university they are more likely to feel a stronger sense of belonging (Haussmann, Schofield, & Woods, 2007).

5. Social connections have a strong relationship to a student’s institutional commitment (Strauss & Volkwein, 2004), and are important in helping students in their transition into universities (Friedlander, Reid, Shupak, & Cribble, 2007) Student-athletes are more likely to experience social isolation as a result of the demands and stigma that comes with participation in college athletics (Petrie & Stoever, 1997)

6. May be beneficial for students to have a group of support from their athletic team initially, networks outside of their teammates may become difficult to develop, which may have a negative impact on their sense of belonging to the campus (Petrie & Stoever, 1997; Miller & Kerr, 2002) Positive correlation between attending a religious college of a Protestant, Catholic, or Evangelical association and spiritual struggle (Bryant and Astin, 2008)

7. Interview Questions: What was your freshmen orientation experience like? What have you enjoyed most about your college experience so far? When you look at your non-athlete peers how do you think your social experience differs from theirs? Can you describe your social experience as an athlete? Would you say you have been satisfied with your experience? What kind of advice would you give next year’s freshmen so that they could have a satisfactory social experience on campus?

8. Results: Still transcribing and coding So far: –Limited, if any, participation in freshmen orientation –Enjoy freedom, and opportunity to embrace adulthood –Experience differs from non-athletes in time constraints –Social experience is with team and other athletes, sometime with peers in shared living area

9. –Overall satisfaction with experience –Advice: lots of it! Be yourself Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone Make your faith your own Know what you believe Take care of your body: nutrition and sleep Priorities and time management